A brutally honest and deeply affecting memoir about growing up in the countryside of rebel country in Northern Ireland
Colin Broderick was born in 1968 and spent his childhood in Tyrone County in Northern Ireland. It was the beginning of the period of heightened tension and violence known as the Troubles, and Colin's Catholic family lived in the heart of rebel country. The community was filled with Provisional IRA members, whose lives depended on the silence and complicity of their neighbors. At times, that made for a confusing childhood. We watch as he and his brothers play ball with the neighbor children over a fence for years but are never allowed to play together because it is forbidden. We see him struggle to understand why young men from his community often just disappear. We feel his confusion when he is held at gunpoint at various military checkpoints in the North. But even when Colin does ask his parents about these events, he never receives a clear explanation. Desperate to protect her children, Colin's mother tries to prevent exposure to or knowledge of the harm that surrounds them. Spoken with stern finality, "That's that" became the refrain of Colin's childhood.
The first book to paint a detailed depiction of Northern Ireland's Troubles, That's That is presented against a personal backdrop and told in the wry, memorable voice of a man who has finally come to terms with his past.
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“Broderick brings the reader deep into the experience of his community: the absolute segregation of Protestants and Catholics, the suspicion toward strangers, the way disputes are handled when the police are no longer trusted. Best of all, we hear the much-celebrated but still-miraculous wonders of Irish people talking. Broderick’s voice is alternately funny, charming, and soulful as he struggles with his personal demons and the meaning of his identity as an Irishman during the Troubles.”
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Booklist (starred review)